Names of places on the Peninsula of Cantire, on the contrary, where we find Smerbys (from _by_), Killipol (from _bol_), Torrisdale, and the pure Norwegian Skipness, but more particularly on the islands outside the Peninsula, near the west coast of Argyle, indicate a very considerable Norwegian colonization. Not only have several of the small islands Norwegian names, as Scarba (“Skarpey”) and Lunga (“Langey”), but the largest and most fertile of them, Islay (the “Il” of the Sagas), which Dean Monro as early as 1594 found to be fruitful, full of good pastures, abounding with large deer, having many forests, excellent hunting, and a river called Laxay (the pure _Old N._ “Laxá”) in which many salmon were caught (“_with ane water callit Laxay, whereupon maney salmon are slaine_”), still exhibits various traces of decidedly Norwegian settlements. On its east coast, as is usually the case with the Hebrides lying nearest to Scotland, few or no Norwegian names of places are found; but in the middle of the island is Nerby; by Loch Indal, Lyrabolls, Scarabolls, Conisby, Nerabolls, and Elister; and by a rivulet, Skeba (“Skipá;” _Dan._, “Skibeaaen,” or the ship rivulet); whilst on the west side of the island we find Olista, Culaboll, &c. This agrees very well with the accounts that the kings and jarls of the Sudreyjar of Norwegian descent had one of their chief residences in Islay; for it was quite natural that they should surround themselves with countrymen on whose courage and fidelity they could rely. The island abounds, moreover, in traditions and pretended memorials of “the Danes.” Near the bay of Knoch are two large upright stones, called “the two stones of Islay,” under which it is said that the Danish princess, Yula, after whom the island is named, lies buried. In various parts of the island are shown what are called “Danish” castles, encampments, and fortifications. It is also stated (see Anderson’s Guide), that there is a circular mound of earth on the island, with terrace-formed steps, which may possibly have once been used by the Norwegians as a _Thing_ place, like a similar one in the Isle of Man. The chief seat of the Norwegian power on the islands was, however, still more southward than Islay, namely, the Isle of Man (the “Mön” of the Sagas), which lies in the Irish Channel, to the south-west of Solway Firth, about midway between the coasts of Cumberland and Ireland. A peculiar dialect of the Gaelic tongue, called Manx, is spoken throughout this island, and the inhabitants have in general the same appearance as their Gaelic neighbours in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. But no other of the western islands affords so many and such incontestable proofs of its having once had a very wide-spread Norwegian or Scandinavian population, who spoke their own language, and who, through a long series of years, must have been the predominant race.